Mary Cate Pruitt Breaks 26-Year Old Lindsey Benko Pool Record in Indiana

Indiana High School Girls Swimming & Diving Sectionals (Penn High School)

• February 5th-8th, 2020
• Penn High School, Mishakawa, Indiana
• SCY (25y) prelims/finals
• Results on MM – “Penn High School – Girls”

St. Joseph High School junior and Notre Dame commit Mary Cate Pruitt broke a 26-year old Pool Record on Saturday during a high school sectional meet in Indiana.

The meet, which is one of several around the state this weekend that lead in to next weekend’s State Championship meet, is being held at Penn High School in Mishawaka, Indiana. Pruitt swam a 1:48.41 in the 200 free to win the race by over 4 seconds and set a new personal best. The record, besides its age, is particularly noteworthy because it was previously held by Lindsay Benko, now Lindsay Mintenko, who attended Elkhart High School in Elkhart, Indiana. Benko swam a 1:50.04 on October 30th, 1993 to set the old record. This was Benko’s last remaining record at the pool, though she entered the decade with several bests.

Benko was a legend of Indiana high school swimming. She was the first swimmer in state history to win the same 2 individual events in all four years of her high school career. She went on to win 2 Olympic gold medals and 1 Olympic silver medal as a relay swimmer at the 2000 and 2004 Olympic Games, and also won 7 World Championships. She now serves as the Managing Director of the USA Swimming National Team.

Pruitt also won the 500 free in 4:50.61, which is about a second slower than her personal best, and swam on winning 200 free and 400 free relays.